


Respite

by Butterfly



Series: Diamondback [3]
Category: due South
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-06-01
Updated: 2004-06-01
Packaged: 2017-10-17 13:32:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butterfly/pseuds/Butterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray takes a moment to gather himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Respite

After he finally let go of Dief, Ray kinda wanted to start looking right away, but he knew that Fraser would be vastly disappointed in him if he didn't give Dief something to eat and a chance to clean up. Plus, they needed to get the troops in place for movement -- Lieutenant Welsh would call Thatcher and let her know the wolf was back, and soon they'd have a circus of Canadians over at the 2-7, all trying to figure out how to get Dief to show them where Fraser was.

Personally, Ray'd already decided that they should just follow Dief to where he'd come from, because without Fraser here, any attempts at direct communication would end in tears. And no one should have to watch Turnbull cry more than once. But that was Ray, and he knew that the higher-ups would need to debate before they hit onto the solution that actually made sense.

So, they could think, and Dief could get a few good dogs and play in some water. Win-win.

Ray ended up buying six hotdogs with everything and put five of them on a plate for Dief to eat at his leisure. Then he sat down on the sand, eating his own but barely tasting it.

Dief wouldn't be willing to take a dip and get some chow if Fraser were in immediate danger. Or dead. So, the Metcalf chick wasn't actively torturing him. Well, not physically. Emotional torture might be more her thing. The Fraser in his head was silent on the subject, which made sense, because he'd never known about Metcalf. What the fuck did he know from Fraser in love? If you'd asked him before now, he'd have said that no way would Fraser run off with a crook.

Only, Welsh was saying he thought he might have heard Fraser say something...

Which was bull. Vecchio hadn't backed it.

Fuck. He knew Vecchio wouldn't have said 'yes' to that if it were true, which meant that he was still clueless about the Metcalf situation. How deep in had Fraser been?

Dief ran back to him, pushing damp fur under Ray's hand until he gave in, petting long, soothing strokes along Dief's back. Dief whined and then pulled away, nosing a hotdog for a minute before looking at Ray with pleading eyes.

Ray quirked up the side of his mouth and bopped Dief lightly on his cold, wet nose. "It's bad for you. You shouldn't eat that."

Dief barked once, sharply, thanking Ray for playing Fraser for him... is what Ray would be thinking if he were humanizing the wolf, which he was _not_. Dief wolfed the dog and then ran out towards the water again, turning off to look left. Left and across the water. Northwest.

Fraser was somewhere northwest.

Ray shivered, even though the breeze didn't do more than make the heat move in place.

The Metcalf chick was from Alaska. They'd had the local authorities check out the town that she'd been living in, before, and there hadn't been a sign of her. But Ray had heard the rumour that Alaska was roomy. And it was her home turf and she was a crook. Yeah, Alaska was probably the place.

Fuck, what was _with_ Fraser and these sharks? Didn't he know how dangerous it was for him to be getting into the water with that blood-red coat on?

Had he really been in love with her? Couldn't still be, not after everything.

 _Couldn't_.

But the voice in his head was defiantly silent, the one time he'd have welcomed it.

God, he missed the sound of Fraser's voice. The real Fraser's voice. Smooth and low and full of traps for the unwary. Fraser could talk a guy into a circle, mesmerise a crook just by looking him in the eyes and talking him down, like he'd do a wild animal, voice all honey-sweet. And Fraser could straight-man with the best of them, but he sounded better when he was making his own little jokes, with that tiny edge of amusement to his tone that most people never heard, a tiny bit of caramel-smooth in with the chocolate.

Fraser couldn't be hurt too bad, or Dief wouldn't be willing to wait. Fraser couldn't be dead, because Dief wouldn't be _here_ if Fraser were dead.

This time when Dief came back to Ray, Ray wrapped his arms around Dief, inhaling the strong smell of wet dog, feeling water soak into his clothes. He shuddered, and then blinked, his eyes stinging.

"We'll find him." Ray promised Dief, releasing his hold and letting Dief get some air. "We'll find him and bring him home."

Dief whimpered and went back to finish his hotdogs, shooting a look back at Ray that he would have sworn was worried.

Okay. It could be that he was humanizing the dog.


End file.
